Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

The American Christian pastor and evangelical preacher, A, W. Tozer (1897-1963), had a great affinity for Julian of Norwich and for other Christian mystics. Indeed, his biographer affirms that “the writings of these Christian mystics were woven like threads of silver and gold into the fabric of Tozer’s discourses. He cited them, paraphrased them, imitated them. He breathed their spirit; he relied upon their support.” ₁ Dr. Tozer discerned in such persons something he desired – and felt he needed: “These people know God, and I want to know what they know about God and how they came to know it.” ₂ And to the 14^th century Norwich anchorite, he seemed to be particularly drawn:

Once, in a sermon, Tozer referred to Julian of Norwich (also called Juliana) as his ‘girlfriend’. The statement raised many eyebrows. ‘I think,’ Tozer explained, ‘that anyone who has been dead for more than 500 years is safe to be called a girlfriend.’ He discovered in her writings an attitude and passion for God that corresponded with his own spiritual quest. ₃

Maybe it was because of such spiritual affinities, that Pastor Tozer was also drawn to Thomas Merton, with whom he is said to have “carried on a correspondence for some time.” ₄ Such spiritual friendships were not always easy for others to understand: “Tozer liked Thomas Merton. And when a young man said, ‘If Merton is so good, why is he still a Roman Catholic[?] Tozer’s response was, ‘You are such a good Christian, why are you still a Protestant [?].” ₅

In a sermon entitled, “Three Faithful Wounds,” A. W. Tozer takes as his scriptural context a verse from the Book of Proverbs, which begins with the words, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend …” (Proverbs 27.6a). ₆ In the first sentence of the sermon itself, the evangelical preacher states: “I want to … introduce a woman who has been a great blessing to me over the past few years. She is none other than the woman they call the Lady Julian.” ₇ As the title of his sermon suggests, Dr. Tozer focuses on the prayers which Julian references at the end of Chapter 2 of her A Revelation:

Now I want to talk to you about the three prayers Lady Julian made. She conceived a strong desire in her heart for the Lord to give her three wounds …. ‘I want Thee to wound me with the wound of contrition, and I want Thee to wound me with the wound of compassion, and then I want Thee to wound me with the wound of very longing for God.’ ₈

Regarding the second wound, the preacher explains: “Now compassion is an emotional identification, and Christ had that in full perfection. The man who has this wound of compassion is a man who suffers along with other people ….” ₉ And while Dr. Tozer does not believe that Christ “call[s] his people to redemptive suffering,” since “[r]edemption is a finished work,” his understanding of the depth and breadth of compassion’s spiritual efficacy is quite expansive:  

[Christ] does call his people to feel along with Him and to feel along with those that rejoice and those that suffer. He calls His people to be to Him the kind of an earthly body in which He can weep again and suffer again and love again. For our Lord has two bodies. One is the body He took to the tree on Calvary; that was the body in which He suffered to redeem us. But He has a body on earth now, composed of those who have been baptized into it by the Holy Ghost at conversion. In that body he would now suffer to win men. Paul said that he was glad that he could suffer for the Colossians and fill up the measure of the afflictions of Christ in his body for the church’s sake. ₁₀

Here Dr. Tozer is referencing and paraphrasing Colossians 1.12 to speak about Christ’s continuing work of compassion in the body of the baptized. ₁₁ For his part, TM references this same passage in his 1948 book, What Are These Wounds? The Life of a Cistercian Mystic, Saint Lutgarde of Aywieres:

Christ looks down upon the world seeking souls who are willing, like St. Paul, to rejoice in sufferings for sinners, and to fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in their flesh, for His body, which is the Church. ₁₂

At the end of his sermon, Dr. Tozer invites his congregation to pray: “Dare we bow our hearts now and say … Wound me with a sense of my own sinfulness. Wound me with compassion for the world …” ₁₃

Endnotes

1. James L. Snyder, The Life of A. W. Tozer: In the Pursuit of God. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light Worldwide, 2009, pages 166-167.
2. James L. Snyder, The Life of A. W. Tozer: In the Pursuit of God. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light Worldwide, 2009, page 167.
3. James L. Snyder, The Life of A. W. Tozer: In the Pursuit of God. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light Worldwide, 2009, page 167.
4. James L. Snyder, The Life of A. W. Tozer: In the Pursuit of God. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light Worldwide, 2009, page 192.
5. Lyle Dorsett, A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2008, page 136.
6. Vulgate: meliora sunt vulnera diligentis … Based on the presentations of this sermon in various sources, it would appear that there may have been more than one version of the sermon. At least two sources link the sermon with the year 1953. The quotations of the sermon below will be taken from two primary sources.
7. A. W. Tozer, “The Faithful Wounds,” Fellowship of the Burning Heart. Edited by James L. Synder. Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2006, page 139.
8. A. W. Tozer, “The Faithful Wounds,” Fellowship of the Burning Heart. Edited by James L. Synder. Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2006, pages 139-140. In the sermon, the preacher also explains: “Now, God gave … those three wounds, and [Julian] lived to be quite an old lady. She was known through the whole area. They came to her from north and south and east and west, and she told them the way of love and trust and confidence, and goodness of Jesus who had ‘meeked’ himself down to a poor little worm … She was literally a sun … in her generation, shining upon all” (Ibid, 139)  
9. A. W. Tozer, “Three Faithful Wounds,” Man: The Dwelling Place of God. Compiled by Anita M. Bailey. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1966, page 103.
10. A. W. Tozer, “Three Faithful Wounds,” Man: The Dwelling Place of God. Compiled by Anita M. Bailey. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1966, pages 103-104.
11. Colossians 1.24: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church …” (King James). Explicating the quality of compassion, Dr. Tozer preaches: “Only the compassionate heart can win men. You can be sure of that. Lady Julian knew this and so she prayed, ‘Oh God, give me the wound of [compassion], so that I will always feel what you felt, and always feel the way you feel about people.’ Dear people, have you ever wondered about us? So sure of ourselves, so sharp, so doctrinally sound, so religious, but with so little compassion. I think that if we were to go to God and say, ‘Now, God, I am believer, but I am a hard believer. I’m a Christian, but I’m a hard Christian, and I pray that You will wound me with the wound of compassion that will identify me emotionally with Thy Son on the cross and for all for whom He died.’ I believe this could be the beginning of a marvelous transformation in the life of the Church. But it’s lack of compassion that hurts us.” (A. W. Tozer, “The Faithful Wounds,” Fellowship of the Burning Heart. Edited by James L. Synder. Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2006, page 150). And at another point in this section of the sermon, Mr. Tozer explains: “Compassion is identification with Jesus in His love for lost people, perfectly willing to do what He did, if necessary. To die for lost men” (Ibid, page 152).
12. Thomas Merton, What Are These Wounds? The Life of a Cistercian Mystic, Saint Lutgarde of Aywieres. Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2014, page 72. Colossians 1.24 according to the Vulgate: “qui nunc gaudeo in passionibus pro vobis et adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi in carne mea pro corpore eius quod est ecclesia.” English Douay-Rheims translation: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church …”
13. A. W. Tozer, “Three Faithful Wounds,” Man: The Dwelling Place of God. Compiled by Anita M. Bailey. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1966, pages 108. In his 1953 book, The Sign of Jonas, TM offers the following reflection, in which he references the visit of Dom Gabriel Sortais, O.C.S.O, who, at the time, was the Abbot of Bellefontaine Abbey in France, but who would be elected Abbot General of the Cistercian Order in 1951: “The days when Dom Gabriel was at Gethsemani, in August 1948, were busy and eventful days for me since I had to do some interpreting and secretarial work for him. He does not speak English. It was because of this that I went out of the monastery for the first time in seven years and accompanied the Vicar General on an errand of charity in Louisville. We drove into town with Senator Dawson, a neighbor of the monastery, and all the while I wondered how I would react to meeting once again, face to face, the wicked world. I met the world and I found it no longer so wicked after all. Perhaps the things I had resented about the world when I left it were defects of my own that had projected onto it. Now, on the contrary, I found that everything stirred me with a deep and mute sense of compassion. Perhaps some of the people we saw going about the streets were hard and tough … but I did not stop to observe it because I seemed to have lost an eye for merely exterior detail and to have discovered, instead, a deep sense of respect and love and pity for souls that such details never fully reveal. I went through the city, realizing for the first time in my life how good are all the people in the world and how much value they have in the sight of God. (Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas, New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1953, page 91–92.)